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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298301">we'll be running, running, running</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife'>nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>dimension 20 [80]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Assassination Plot(s), Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Love at First Sight, Minor Character Death, Politics, Pre-Canon, Romance, letter writing but not epistolary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:01:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>calroy and donetta, through the years</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Calroy Cruller/Donetta Cruller</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>dimension 20 [80]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>D20 Gift Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>we'll be running, running, running</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>my d20 exchange gift for lydia @squidias- i hope you like it!<br/>title is from young god by halsey, a song i listened to on repeat while writing this</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Calroy Battenburg first meets Donetta Cruller at a High Frosting’s Eve celebration. He is eighteen and already hungry for more than his life can give him and she is eighteen and wrapping a crowd of tittering nobility around her finger and he finds himself unable to look away. </p><p>He doesn’t know her name yet, but their eyes catch and she winks at him. It’s not for several more hours that she finds him in the crowd and offers her hand. </p><p>“My Lady,” he says, kissing it. </p><p>“My Lord,” she replies, “might we dance?”</p><p>Calroy Battenburg falls in love on the dance floor, debating policy with the youngest daughter of Lord Cruller of Muffinfield.</p><p> </p><p><em> You know that I would marry you in a heart’s beat, </em> Calroy writes, some months later, <em> but my father will not be convinced to make the offer. He believes it will be damaging to us, as a rejection is “clearly inevitable.” My siblings- those who bother to make themselves aware of my request, at least- are split on the matter</em>. </p><p>Donetta’s response is sharp and sure, as is she. <em> I will take care of my father. Await his letter</em>.</p><p>Six weeks later, they are standing in a chapel. When Donetta walks down the aisle, sharp and sure and radiant, Calroy feels more in love than he has ever been. When he says <em> I do</em>, they are the truest words he ever speaks. </p><p> </p><p>Calroy moves to his wife’s estate. The aging Lord Cruller retires to a quiet life in the countryside, and the Lordship is passed to his eldest son. Calroy spends the occasional afternoon sparring with the new, young Lord of Muffinfield, who has a taste for the blade.</p><p> </p><p>Calroy Cruller is lounging in bed, an arm around Donetta’s shoulders. The early morning sun is just beginning to stream through the window. Donetta’s brother is a violent man, unliked by his people. What time he doesn’t devote to cruelty, he spends in the woods, surrounded by sycophants. He considers Calroy a brother. </p><p>There is to be a hunting expedition today.</p><p>His wife whispers into his shoulder, <em> my friends in the kitchen have the spices we requested.  </em></p><p>He can feel her smile against his collarbone and he whispers into her hair, <em> the market road will be busy today. </em> </p><p>The young lord of Muffinfield <em> tragically </em>dies of spontaneous heart failure during a hunting expedition. His body is carried home by his dutiful brother-in-law, who takes his place with a heavy heart. His beloved sister is overlooked in her grief, and life goes on.  </p><p>Hardly anyone takes note of two kitchen servants ambushed and killed by bandits on their way into town. </p><p> </p><p>Calroy goes to war, and makes a friend. Donetta sends letters. The Archmage is dead on the battlefield, and Calroy writes that he believes in luck as much as the Bulb, but either way it shines on them. Donetta burns his letters with a smile. </p><p>Donetta begins correspondence with a promising young Bulbian miracle worker named Belizabeth Brassica, burns her letters alongside her husband’s. Calroy writes that Prince Amethar has a big heart and wide confidence. </p><p>Saint Citrina is run down in the street. The wheels of war turn. </p><p>Calroy writes her letters filled with banal observations and musings on his companions. The dusting of pop rock dust on the parchment makes them spark when Donetta drops them in the fire, and she laughs. </p><p>Princess Sapphria is dead. Donetta tours through Muffinfield’s neighbors and passes by a number of Bulbian puppeteers and their shows, and is warmed to see her friendly advice has been heeded. Calroy writes about a new Fructeran comrade by the name of Gustavo Uvano, who’s quite handy with a bow.</p><p> </p><p>The Imperator is dead. General Rococoa is dead. The Concordant Empire is in its infancy. </p><p> </p><p>Donetta stands with Calroy at the wedding of King Amethar and Queen Caramelinda, and has eyes only for the husband she hasn’t seen in months.</p><p> </p><p>Calroy spends afternoons sparring with Princess Jet, and Donetta finds herself lounging on the battlements, listening to the concerns of Princess Ruby. Donetta has never been an acrobat, but when she was younger, she loved to run through the halls of her family’s keep. She hasn’t forgotten the feeling of wind in her hair. </p><p>She watches Ruby balance on the castle walls, and doesn’t tell her to get down. Tells her in a conspiratorial tone that it’s a mother’s job to stifle her daughters, and a daughter’s job not to let her, winking at Ruby as she does.</p><p> </p><p>“Jet would change the world,” Calroy tells her one night, both of them holding each other close, “given the time.” </p><p>“Given the time,” Donetta responds, “Ruby would help her do it.”</p><p><em> Unfortunate for them, then, that the time will not be given </em>, stays unspoken in the air between them. Neither of them have ever wanted kids, because their nieces in all but name have been enough. Not enough to bring pause to their plans, of course. But enough.</p><p> </p><p>Amethar’s good friend Gustavo sends him a letter. Donetta and Calroy are going to Comida. Calroy burns the letter from Senator Ciabatta, and Donetta smiles at a memory. </p><p>“Where <em> did </em>you get those pop rocks, during the war?” she asks, remembering the first time her husband’s letter had exploded into pink mist, ruining her dress right before an appointment with a neighboring Lord. She’d been too delighted to be angry.</p><p>“You know? I got them off Manta Ray Jack, and he would never admit to where <em> he’d </em> gotten them from,” Calroy says, eyes bright, “maybe I’ll send him a letter.”</p><p>“You’ll do <em> no such thing</em>,” she says, whacking him with an envelope. He moves away, snickering, and she brandishes the envelope again as he raises his hands in surrender.</p><p> </p><p>Comida is thrilling, and they take a young Duchess under their wing. She has bright eyes and a sharp wit, and Donetta hopes when the time comes, she’ll make smart choices. </p><p> </p><p>Amethar pulls through. Liam is imprisoned. Neither of them are asked to come to his trial, and that’s just as well. The sun has set and Candia is at war with the Concord, and it’s time to go. </p><p> </p><p>They part ways at the city’s border. Calroy to take the castle, Donetta to hold down the east. She holds out her hand, and he kisses it. Their voices are whisper-quiet.</p><p>“My Lady,” he says, eyes bright even in the dark, and it’s warm. </p><p>“My Lord,” she says, and it’s warm, “Come back to me,” she says, sure and sharp and warm and quiet. </p><p>Calroy grins. </p><p>“When you see me again, you’ll be a queen,” her husband promises, and then he disappears into the night. </p><p>She smiles, and disappears as well.</p>
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